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	<h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading" lang="en">Panorama formats</h1>
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		<div id="siteSub" class="noprint">From PanoTools.org Wiki</div>
		
		
		
		
		
		
		<div id="mw-content-text" lang="en" dir="ltr" class="mw-content-ltr"><div class="mw-parser-output"><p>The format of a panorama is defined in broad terms by the <a href="Projections.html" title="Projections">projection</a> used to map the full or partial 3D scene onto a 2 dimensional print or screen.
There are several types of projections in use:
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<h3><a name="Full_Spherical_Formats"><span class="mw-headline">Full Spherical Formats</span></a></h3>
<p>There are two main spherical formats: <a href="Equirectangular.html" class="mw-redirect" title="Equirectangular">Equirectangular</a> and <a href="Cubic_Projection.html" title="Cubic Projection">Cubic</a>. Both are able to display the whole sphere that surrounds us - 360° along the horizon, 90° up and 90° down. Specialized viewers<a class="external" href="https://wiki.panotools.org/Panorama_Viewers">[*]</a> are needed to view spherical panoramas.
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<div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner" style="width:252px;"><a class="external" href="https://wiki.panotools.org/File:Equirectangular.JPG"><img alt="" src="250px-Equirectangular.JPG" decoding="async" width="250" height="125" class="thumbimage" /></a>  <div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"></div>equirectangular panorama format</div></div></div>
<h4><a name="Equirectangular"><span class="mw-headline">Equirectangular</span></a></h4>
<p>The equirectangular format is widely used by a couple of Panorama Viewers<a class="external" href="https://wiki.panotools.org/Panorama_Viewers">[*]</a> as for example PTViewer<a class="external" href="https://wiki.panotools.org/PTViewer">[*]</a> and SPi-V<a class="external" href="https://wiki.panotools.org/SPi-V">[*]</a>. It consists of a single image with an <a href="Aspect_Ratio.html" title="Aspect Ratio">aspect ratio</a> of 2:1 (that is, the width must be exactly twice the height).
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<div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner" style="width:252px;"><a class="external" href="https://wiki.panotools.org/File:Cubic.jpg"><img alt="" src="250px-Cubic.jpg" decoding="async" width="250" height="188" class="thumbimage" /></a>  <div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"></div>cubic panorama format</div></div></div>
<h4><a name="Cubic"><span class="mw-headline">Cubic</span></a></h4>
<p>The <a href="Cubic_Projection.html" title="Cubic Projection">cubic</a> format uses 6 cube faces to fill the whole sphere around us. The image is remapped to the cubefaces which fit seamlessly. 
</p><p>One very wide spread cubic format is QuickTime<a class="external" href="https://wiki.panotools.org/Quicktime">[*]</a> VR. It consists of one file containing the 6 faces as <a href="JPEG.html" title="JPEG">JPEG</a> compressed images together with a header giving basic information how the panorama should be displayed.
</p><p>Another cubic format is used by SPi-V<a class="external" href="https://wiki.panotools.org/SPi-V">[*]</a>. It consists of the 6 cubefaces in a single row or column. SPi-V<a class="external" href="https://wiki.panotools.org/SPi-V">[*]</a> treats any image with an <a href="Aspect_Ratio.html" title="Aspect Ratio">aspect ratio</a> of exactly 6:1 as a cubic spherical panorama.
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<div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner" style="width:252px;"><a class="external" href="https://wiki.panotools.org/File:Little_planet.jpg"><img alt="" src="250px-Little_planet.jpg" decoding="async" width="250" height="250" class="thumbimage" /></a>  <div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"></div>Little planet remapping example &#169; Erik Krause</div></div></div>
<h4><span id="&quot;Little_Planet&quot;"></span><a name=".22Little_Planet.22"><span class="mw-headline">"Little Planet"</span></a></h4>
<p>This is an unusal format that remaps a full sphere such that the ground looks like if it was a little planet. See Unusual remappings<a class="external" href="https://wiki.panotools.org/Unusual_remappings#Little_planet">[*]</a> for details.<br style="clear:both;" />
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<h3><a name="Partial_Formats"><span class="mw-headline">Partial Formats</span></a></h3>
<p>There is a number of possibilities to display partial panoramas - these are panoramas that don't fill the whole sphere in one or the other way. Partial panoramas can be displayed directly if they don't cover more than approximately 120° along the shorter side (that is they can be 360° in one direction but must be 120° or less in the other direction). The main formats are <a href="Cylindrical_Projection.html" title="Cylindrical Projection">Cylindrical</a> and <a href="Rectilinear_Projection.html" title="Rectilinear Projection">Rectilinear</a>, but partial spherical panoramas are possible, too.
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<div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner" style="width:252px;"><a class="external" href="https://wiki.panotools.org/File:Cylindrical.JPG"><img alt="" src="250px-Cylindrical.JPG" decoding="async" width="250" height="125" class="thumbimage" /></a>  <div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"></div>cylindrical panorama format</div></div></div>
<h4><a name="Cylindrical"><span class="mw-headline">Cylindrical</span></a></h4>
<p><a href="Cylindrical_Projection.html" title="Cylindrical Projection">Cylindrical</a> panoramas can show a full circle along the horizon or a part of it. They are very popular for landscape panoramas. If used for architectural subjects it might be of bother that horizontal lines (except the horizon itself) are bent.
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<div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner" style="width:252px;"><a class="external" href="https://wiki.panotools.org/File:Orientation-plate.jpg"><img alt="" src="250px-Orientation-plate.jpg" decoding="async" width="250" height="86" class="thumbimage" /></a>  <div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"></div>Arc formed panorama example &#169; Erik Krause</div></div></div>
<h4><a name="Arc_formed"><span class="mw-headline">Arc formed</span></a></h4>
<p>A special type of a <a href="Cylindrical_Projection.html" title="Cylindrical Projection">Cylindrical Projection</a> where the panorama is arched like on common orientation plates. See details on Unusual remappings<a class="external" href="https://wiki.panotools.org/Unusual_remappings#Orientation_plate_.28arc.29">[*]</a>.<br style="clear:both;" />
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<div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner" style="width:252px;"><a class="external" href="https://wiki.panotools.org/File:Rectlinear.JPG"><img alt="" src="250px-Rectlinear.JPG" decoding="async" width="250" height="140" class="thumbimage" /></a>  <div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"></div>rectilinear panorama format</div></div></div>
<h4><a name="Rectilinear"><span class="mw-headline">Rectilinear</span></a></h4>
<p><a href="Rectilinear_Projection.html" title="Rectilinear Projection">Rectilinear</a> panoramas display the subject just like an ordinary (non-fisheye) lens would do. The horizontal and vertical field of view are limited to about 120°. Straight lines stay straight, hence they are good for architectural subjects. But if either field of view is too large they suffer from unnatural looking distortions in the corners.
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<div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner" style="width:252px;"><a class="external" href="https://wiki.panotools.org/File:Equirectangular_cut.jpg"><img alt="" src="250px-Equirectangular_cut.jpg" decoding="async" width="250" height="125" class="thumbimage" /></a>  <div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"></div>cutted equirectangular panorama format</div></div></div>
<h4><a name="Partial_Spherical"><span class="mw-headline">Partial Spherical</span></a></h4>
<p>To partial spherical panoramas applies basically the same as to full sphericals (see above). In most cases they are used to cut off <a href="Zenith.html" title="Zenith">Zenith</a> or <a href="Nadir.html" title="Nadir">Nadir</a>. Vertical field of view has to be limited in this case to prevent the viewer from misinterpreting the source images.
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